Intel RealSense depth camera D435i combines the robust depth sensing capabilities of the D435 with the addition of an inertial measurement unit (IMU).
Adding an IMU allows your application to refine its depth awareness in any situation where the camera moves. This opens the door for rudimentary SLAM and tracking applications allowing better point cloud alignment. It also allows improved environmental awareness for robotics and drones. The use of an IMU makes registration and calibration easier for handheld scanning system use cases and is also important in fields such as virtual/augmented reality and drones. When using the D435i, our Intel RealSense SDK 2.0 provides IMU data that is time stamped to align with our high quality depth data.
The inertial measurement unit (IMU) is used for the detection of movements and rotations in 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF). An IMU combines a variety of sensors with gyroscopes to detect both rotation and movement in 3 axes, as well as pitch, yaw and roll. It is used in applications such as gaming and pointing devices as well as image stabilization.
Ideal for cameras in motion
The combination of a wide field of view and global shutter sensor on the D435i make it the preferred solution for applications such as robotic navigation and object recognition. The wider field of view allows a single camera to cover more area resulting in less "blind spots". The global shutter sensors provide great low light sensitivity allowing robots to navigate spaces with the lights off.